Lloyd Cutler Quotes

If people are going to stay in Office because of the money they get there, apart from the attractions of political life, they are going to be more difficult than ever to remove.

Every man who has been in office a few years believes he has a life estate in it.

Politics is the only field in which the more experience you have, the worse you get.

The paradox of American democracy has been that its slogan of equal opportunity has meant, often, equal opportunity to get power over your fellows.

For the sake of advantage which is to be gained from the public revenues and from office, men want to be always in office.

It is very rarely that a man of brains, honor and good manners gets into public life. In most instances the man who holds an office is a rogue, a vulgarian or an ignoramus; commonly he is all three.

No one has ever seen a congressman who left office because he didn't get paid enough. On the contrary, many of them spend millions of dollars to get there.... Congressmen do not make good hardship cases.

Our criminal justice system affirmatively depends on inequality.

All persons who take part in government are accountable for their actions.

There is not a single crowned head in Europe whose talents or merits would entitle him to be elected a vestryman by the people of any parish in America.

Tell Congress to go home and make an honest living instead of riding on the backs of the taxpayers.

Government posts are for sale, preventing some poor people with abilities from serving in those positions.

You wouldn’t need term limits if these [political] jobs don’t pay anything.

I have not found a single good man in government; I have found good only in the people.

The government may be made up of clever, sensible people. But if they do not believe in basic human values, the more clever or shrewd they are the greater the tragedy they will create.

There are good people, who are in politics — in both parties — who hold this at arm's length, because if they acknowledge it and recognize it, then the moral imperative to make big changes is inescapable.

The career politicians down in Washington don't want to be held accountable.

Law is a silvery web that lets the big flies pass and catches all the small ones.

The average prison term for a convicted murderer in America is 6.5 years. The average tenure for a member of Congress is 13 years. We've got it backwards. We are giving early release to the wrong criminal class.

I cannot see any of these death penalty cases where there hasn't been a violation on the ground of either poverty or race. If we can ever get that straightened out, it will help. But, of course, the real answer to it is to do away with the death penalty.

Law and Justice are the most vindictive gang in Europe.

Only poor people go to jail.

If you're stealing a television, that should not be the death penalty.

Democracy can't be just for billionaires and corporations.

We send young white boys to the Army. We're sending young black boys to the prisons.